Star Odyssey

Chapter 640: Cauldron

Chapter 640: Cauldron

At First Divine Gate, there was a procession of four or five people who had managed to get rid of a few guardians with great difficulty. “Hurry! There have been changes with the Nine Cauldrons, and the inheritance is right in front. Let’s hurry over!”

Among them, there was one youth who was carrying a hoe. He had an honest and trustworthy face, and he was panting slightly. “There’s no need to rush. Even if an inheritance has just appeared, it won’t be that easy for someone to obtain it.”

“Nong Zaitian, you might not be anxious since your family has so many treasures, but our families don’t have any.” One girl spoke in an unkind tone voice while she rolled her eyes and looked over at the man carrying the hoe.

Another man said, “Your Nong family’s ancestor actually managed to get his hands on the treasures of an entire auction house.”

Nong Zaitian simply smiled. “Actually, that treasury has been somewhat depleted. Look, this hoe’s the only thing left. How about this—I’ll give it to you guys.”

The rest were speechless, as who would want a broken hoe?

At this moment, a figure quickly approached them from behind, and when the group looked back, they saw a man with a very average-looking appearance. However, his hair had an odd color, as it was blood-red. Also, they could see traces of red spots in his eyes, and the evil-looking smile that decorated his face was unavoidable. His overall appearance made them all feel slightly uneasy.

The few young cultivators looked over cautiously and moved aside, as they intended to allow the red-headed man to pass by first.

Nong Zaitian glanced at the man, silently stepped over to straddle his hoe, sat down on it, and then suddenly shouted, “RUN!” The hoe disappeared with a whoosh, only leaving a trace of a spatial crack behind.

The few others from his group were dumbfounded. What’s going on? Escape? Why’s that damn hoe so fast!

“It seems like someone recognized me. Is that a weapon of the Nong family? That family has a track record of having good luck,” the man with the blood-colored hair spoke faintly.

The others felt something was off, and they huddled together. “Brother, you can go first.”

The man with the blood-colored hair looked over at the remaining people, and the evil smile on his lips became even creepier somehow. “Let me introduce myself. I am Blood Looney, someone who was cryopreserved for many years.”

The youths were caught off guard, as they had not heard of this person before.

Blood Looney casually stretched his body. “The Nong family has been able to maintain a very impressive position in the Blood Progenitor Realm for so many years for a very good reason. That kid was able to recognize me, but you guys didn’t. That also means that the outcome has already been determined.”

He suddenly pointed beneath the crowd. “Remember to watch where you step, and make sure you don’t step on anything!” He then laughed before dashing into the distance.

The small crowd of people looked down and saw that a vibrant red lotus flower had appeared beneath them. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know, but be careful. That bastard Nong Zaitian is more astute than anyone else here, and he took off without saying more than a single word. That person’s really tricky,” one said.

“Let me try,” one girl said. As she spoke, the phantom image of an imprint appeared behind her as she used her star energy to streak past the blood-colored lotuses. The next moment, the lotus bloomed and swallowed the youths whole. After only a few seconds passed, the place where the small crowd had just been standing was empty aside from a pile of clothes. There was no trace of flesh or even bones, as everything had been consumed by the blood lotus.

Blood Looney’s gaze trembled, and his lips curled upwards. “I already warned you guys to be careful of what was beneath you. It’s a pity that that Nong kid managed to escape.”

Nong Zaitian was standing in front of First Divine Gate with a deathly pale face as he flew along atop his hoe, still attempting to beat a hasty retreat. “How did this happen? That monster’s been let out? Which idiot let him out! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Those people are all doomed, but I had no choice. This brother was only able to escape by himself, and I wasn’t able to take any of you away. Rest assured, I’ll make the news of your deaths public, so rest in peace.”

In the Sixth Mainland’s Blood Homage Realm, a sweet and pleasing melody drifted through the air in a luxurious restaurant, setting a special ambience for the establishment. This was supposed to be an elegant place where men and women could meet and flirt with one another, but at this moment, most of the people in the restaurant were staring at a particular corner, stupefied. In that corner, there was a young man who was all alone and devouring food with large bites. Over a thousand plates had already been piled up upon the table, but the youth still hadn’t shown any inclination of slowing down.

“Quick, food! Keep it coming, keep it coming!” The youth ate as he slapped the table, ruining the elegant atmosphere of the dining establishment. However, not one person dared to stop him.

The kitchen was buzzing with activity, and all of the chefs were dripping sweat.

There was only one person eating in the entire restaurant, but even the combined efforts of the entire kitchen staff of the restaurant could not keep up with him.

Suddenly, the young man paused and looked up. After a moment, he blinked. “What? You’re sending me to the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect's ruins to hunt the Ten Arbiters down?”

The surrounding people looked at the youth strangely, as they did not have any idea who he could possibly be speaking to.

Someone unhappily complained, “This restaurant has fallen from grace, and now it accepts anyone! This person must be a fool.”

“Shh!” Someone else immediately covered the speaker’s mouth and softly warned, “Do you want to die? That’s Nan Yanfei!”

“Nan Yanfei?” The first person was confused for a moment, but then his expression changed drastically. “The Blood Homage Realm’s Realmling? That Nan Yanfei?”

There was a thump as the thousands of plates that had been on the table crashed to the floor, producing a tremendous clattering ruckus. The servers immediately moved forward to tidy up the mess, but Nan Yanfei had an upset expression. “Why should I go? Even though the Fifth Mainland is weak, those Ten Arbiters are not much weaker than us, and they are definitely ruthless. It would be more dependable to send the Daosource Three Skies.”

After a while, Nan Yanfei’s expression changed yet again, and he finally released a grudging sigh. “Alright, alright, I’ll go. But I’ll say this much first: don’t blame me if I can’t win. You should know that the Fifth Mainland has a complicated cultivation system, and while that causes their overall strength to lean towards the weaker side, there are also some absolute freaks that can be born. The Ten Arbiters are the peak monsters of the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation, and I truly have no confidence in facing them.”

Then, Nan Yanfei roared once again, “FOOD! Where’s the food? I want ten times more than what was already served!”

The surrounding people gaped with open mouths. This person had already eaten so much, but he still wanted more?

In the Sixth Mainland’s Bloodburn Realm, there were multiple streets that were packed with an unending flow of people and huge crowds. It was very troublesome to traverse these streets, but despite these difficulties, there was a pale youth who steadily walked forward, seemingly streaking through the human flood as if his body was incorporeal. Not a single person was able to touch him, as if he was no more than an apparition.

Suddenly, the man froze, which caused his body to abruptly appear in the midst of the crowd. This scared the nearby people, and they all instantly detoured to go around him as they looked at him with terror on their faces. Their reactions were understandable, given that this person had suddenly appeared right in front of them.

This man continued to stand in the middle of the street, still frozen despite the terrified gazes directed towards him.

“The Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect's ruins? The Hunt has been shifted over to there? Ten Arbiters... Alright, I’ll bring the Ten Arbiters’ heads to the warfront at Mara River!” the man said arrogantly, revealing a pair of eyes that looked like they belonged to a vulture. This youth was Di Fa, the Realmling of the Bloodburn Realm.

The Ten Arbiters and Realmlings were all converging upon the Daosource Sect's ruins, as these ruins had suddenly become the battlefield for the fight between the younger generations of the Fifth and Sixth Mainlands. The Hunt had been proposed by the Sixth Mainland, and the goal of this competition was to gather the heads of the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation’s top experts, but it was still impossible to determine who the hunter and who the prey was in this competition.

In the Daosource Sect's ruins, Lu Yin’s group of four continued to follow Mr. Bai for half a day before arriving at a light pillar that would transport them to the region with the Nine Cauldrons.

As the four youths gazed at the nine enormous cauldrons that were each as large as a continent, Huang San’s mouth fell open. “How can such massive cauldrons exist? Each one’s even larger than a mountain!”

Mr. Bai looked up with hope on his face. “These are the Nine Source Cauldrons, the most appealing land of inheritance in the ruins of the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect. After the ancient war, our ancestors could not bear to destroy them, and so, they instead chose to leave them behind. This can be considered as an opportunity left behind by our ancestors.”

“Unfortunately, no one has ever obtained any destiny from these Nine Source Cauldrons, which has caused this area that holds the greatest inheritance to slowly fade away from memory, and some even have even started saying that the Progenitors’ inheritances in the mountains and seas are easier to acquire than the ones in these Nine Cauldrons,” Miss Qing said.

Mr. Bai replied, “That’s not necessarily so, as it is possible that some people may have inherited battle techniques from these cauldrons but merely chosen to not reveal anything. For example, there are the Daosource Three Skies, of whom no one in the same realm can force to use all their power, and not even the older powerhouses dare to act against them. Hence, nobody knows what their true strength is.”

They watched as figure after figure arrived in this space, and each one of them quickly dashed towards the Nine Cauldrons.

The Nine Cauldrons seemed very similar to each other, but there were subtle differences between them. With no more than a single look, everyone could easily tell which one of the nine cauldrons had generated the phantom image that they had all witnessed in the sky, and quite a few people were already headed towards it.

Lu Yin and the others did not hesitate; they also leaped up and dashed towards the inside of that cauldron.

The cauldron was gigantic, and the space inside of it looked like a hollowed-out mountain range. Upon arriving at the rim of the cauldron, Lu Yin crouched down to touch it. He could see that there were a few spots of corrosion on it, which were testament to the countless years that the cauldron had existed for. Still, despite those flaws, the cauldron remained as sturdy as ever, and it seemed to be indestructible.

The outside of the cauldron was etched with pictures, but they were hidden by the rust and could not be clearly seen.

Mr. Bai and the other two jumped into the cauldron, and Lu Yin leaped in as well. He was eager to gain another powerful battle technique, as aside from the Dream Finger, he had no other powerful battle technique that could turn the tides of battle. However, the toll that the Dream Finger placed upon his body was too severe, and every time he used it, his finger needed to recuperate for several days. Thus, it was not a suitable technique for drawn out battles.

If he could obtain a battle technique from these cauldrons, then that would be great, as it would be a battle technique from the ancient Daosource Sect.

Still, there wasn’t a high possibility of that happening, and Lu Yin did not feel that he was some special person. He had not been able to comprehend anything after visiting the Scripture Pavilion or Heavens Pit, and this place might not be any different.

There was a thump as Lu Yin landed on the bottom of the cauldron and stepped on a pile of white bones. Quite a few people had visited this place in the past, and quite a few people had died here as well.

The fatty was careful to walk alongside Lu Yin, and he gestured towards the silent youth.

Lu Yin did not bother with the fatty and quickly walked to the border. He studied the diagrams that had been etched onto the cauldron’s interior walls, as the battle technique might be related to these diagrams.

“Bro, it’s eerie in here. I think I’ll follow you.” The fatty was panicking.

Lu Yin reached out to touch the wall of the cauldron. It was cold to the touch with a metallic sense to it, but it felt different from any other metal he had seen before. The moment he touched it, he was able to sense the great changes that had occurred throughout the ages just from this metal.

Mr. Bai and Miss Qing had each moved in different directions, heading towards unknown parts, as this cauldron was huge. The fatty blindly followed after Lu Yin, though he seemed to be incessantly mumbling something.

Lu Yin grew irritated. “You have improved your bloodline to an unrivaled one, but you’re still so timid! Go and find your own destiny! Maybe you’ll be able to find a battle technique that can allow you to surpass Autumnfrost Qing and win back Yan Xiaojing.”

The fatty’s eyes lit up. “A battle technique that can let me surpass Autumnfrost Qing? Bro, can I really comprehend something like that?”

Suddenly, the fatty’s face changed, and he stared at Lu Yin. “Bro, you can speak?”

Lu Yin answered quietly, “I never said I couldn’t.”

The fatty was stumped, but then his face turned sour. “Bro, that’s really messed up!”

Lu Yin frowned at his companion. “Go and find your own destiny.”

“Fat Bro already told you everything! Bro, how could you be like this?” Fat Bro lamented.

Lu Yin grudgingly answered him, “I’m not interested in the tragic details of your life.”

He then turned back around and focused on the words and images on the bottom of the cauldron wall.

“Seventh Bro, these characters seem similar to the ones we saw in the Scripture Pavilion. They must be characters from the period of when the Daosource Sect was still active,” the Ghost Monkey said.

Lu Yin formed a knife out of his star energy and then tried to remove the bit of rust, but his efforts were pointless. No matter how much strength he exerted, he could not affect the corroded bits of the metal at all, which was scary. It was perfectly normal if this metal that had endured the erosion of time withstood his attacks, and the strength of this material on the crystal scale was possibly even over 100,000. However, it was another matter entirely that even its corrosion was this sturdy.

It’s no wonder why, even after so many years, this cauldron is still full of corrosive spots. If they could be removed, then they would have been wiped clean by someone else long ago.

“Bro, look! The sky’s turned red!” the fatty shrieked from behind.

Lu Yin impatiently looked up, but then his pupils shrank. The space in this region had originally been as dusky as the region that held Heaven's Pit with the only difference being that this place held the Nine Cauldrons. However, at this moment, the opening of the cauldron had turned red, and the color was growing more intense by the second. Then, blood-colored lotuses spread across the opening as well.

Not good—someone’s sealing off the entrance of the cauldron!

Nearby, someone rose into the sky as their imprint appeared behind them. The young man charged furiously towards the opening of the cauldron and crashed against a blood lotus. Then, the youth’s entire body was reduced to nothing more than a splash of blood that scattered about.

This abrupt change left everyone in the cauldron completely dumbstruck. Even stranger, the blood did not fall to the ground, and was instead absorbed in midair by the blood lotuses, which caused the hue of the lotus petals to become even more luscious.

Nong Zaitian = literally means "a farmer's farming."